Set technical direction across Netflix's ad tech ecosystem — serving, programmatic, media planning, or platform foundations

Netflix's Ads Engineering org (Los Gatos) is looking for a senior engineer to join one of several teams — Ad Serving, Programmatic, Media Planning, Platform Foundations, Campaign Management, Inventory Forecasting, Data Clean Room, Finance, or CRM — building the in-house ad tech stack behind Netflix's ad-supported tier. The 'Software Engineer 4' level and emphasis on 'setting technical directions... making architectural decisions, and influencing partner teams' signal a senior IC expected to operate with strategic scope, not just execute tickets.

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What this interview tests

Domain depth in one ads area (serving, identity, forecasting, campaign mgmt, etc.)
Setting technical direction and making architectural decisions
Cloud-based, object-oriented system design at scale
A/B testing and experimentation
Advertising marketplace fundamentals (campaign setup, targeting, reporting)
Cross-team influence without direct authority

Common question themes

Describe a technical direction you set that other engineers or teams had to align to

Walk through designing an ad serving or inventory forecasting system at scale

How would you A/B test a change to an ad product and what metrics would you track

Tell me about influencing a partner team's roadmap or design without formal authority

What do you know about how programmatic advertising or OpenRTB/VAST standards work

Describe a time you had to move fast under ambiguous, high-ambition goals

How candidates describe it

Real Software Engineer 4 - Ads Engineering interview stories — retold from candidates' public write-ups, with sources.

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Interviewed June 2020 · Bangalore, IN

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Google L4 Software Engineer Interview: Eight Rounds, No Offer

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Google L5 software engineer interview: phone screening, three onsite rounds, system design, and a late rejection

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Interviewed January 2023 · Not specified

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